US Progress in Critical Minerals Projects

Posted date/time:April 14, 2026

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Duncan Wood and Amanda Van Dyke discuss the progress and persistent roadblocks shaping the Trump administration’s push to expand mineral production.

In this edition of Wilson in One, Visiting Fellow Duncan Wood and Critical Minerals Hub Founder Amanda Van Dyke discuss the progress and persistent roadblocks shaping the Trump administration’s push to expand mineral production.

Transcript

Duncan Wood: Would you say that the administration has made real progress speeding up mining and processing projects, or are permitting and local opposition still major constraints?

Amanda van Dyke: It takes today 15 to 25 years to go from discovery to production for a new mineral project within the continental U.S. He could halve that and it would still be too long. So yes, he's made progress. And some of the biggest progress is making funding available and signaling that the administration expects expedited and efficient permitting.

That being said, the existing process is extremely slow and dysfunctional. So I think he probably still has a lot more work to do if he wants to get American mining and processing back onto the timelines he's looking for.